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McCutchen, Qualls up; McPherson, Wilson down

McCutchen, Qualls up; McPherson, Wilson down

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Daniel McCutchen

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SAN DIEGO -- After a busy day on Monday, the Pirates were active with their roster again Tuesday, reactivating reliever Chad Qualls from bereavement leave and recalling right-hander Daniel McCutchen from Triple-A Indianapolis.

Those moves mean that Kyle McPherson and Justin Wilson, who were called up from Indianapolis Sunday night and flew to San Diego before Monday's game, are headed back to the Minors.

McPherson and Wilson made successful Major League debuts in Monday night's 3-1 loss to the Padres. McPherson worked two scoreless innings and yielded just one hit, while Wilson struck out three Padres in the eighth.

"It was a good day for the organization for both those men to get on the mound," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "They've put in a lot of hard work, and our development people are to be given a pat on the back, as both those young pitchers are able to come in and compete in a pennant race and show up well."

Hurdle said Wilson, who has made 25 starts for the Indianapolis Indians, will see time in the bullpen when he rejoins the club. That might be an indication that the Pirates are considering a late-season callup for the lefty, who hit 94 mph on Monday.

Qualls was placed on the bereavement list on Aug. 16 to deal with an illness in his family. He was sent to the Pirates from the Yankees as part of a Trade Deadline deal for infielder Casey McGehee and has yielded five earned runs in his first 5 2/3 innings with the Bucs.

This will be McCutchen's third stint with the Pirates in 2012, though he has yet to pitch for Pittsburgh this season. He's appeared in 107 Major League games in his career, 15 of them starts, and owns an 8-10 record and 4.67 in parts of three big league seasons.

"I was asleep, it was 2 o'clock in the morning because we were on Eastern Time," McCutchen, who was with the Indians in Syracuse, said. "I don't know how many times I've been called up in my career ... but every time's exciting. You just hope every time you get called up this is the one where you stick and you're in the big leagues for a long time."

McCutchen's last outing was four innings of relief in Syracuse on Saturday, and has significant experience in the Pirates' bullpen after throwing a career high 84 2/3 innings in 2011.

"That's exactly why he's here: for some length," Hurdle said. "With the options that we have, we didn't have much length available, and Daniel has definitely been stretched out and can provide us with that length option if needed."